#tabletop rants

im almost always on the look out for more systems to look into :D

okay so first little idea post for unfucking rpgs

dnd (and some other rpgs to a lesser extent) has a habit of having you go through all this trouble to roll/buy/spend point in core stats....only for you to never actually use those numbers directly. like 80-90% of how you use your strength stat is going to be by using the modifier it grants you rather than the stat number itself

i have a problem with this

better idea: everyone starts with zeros in all their core stats. your race/species/equivalent will give you some small bonuses and/or penalties to these core stats. 

for example: base elf gives you a +1 to agility stat but a -1 to strength stat. you’re base points still total to zero but you are the elf version of that. an orc would get different bonus and different penalty. same with a dwarf, and so on and so forth.

subraces should prolly work similar. with both a core stat bonus and corresponding penalty. that or not modify the core stats at all and instead represent purely cultural differences. either one.

the point is these are the same stats every npc gets, including peasants/commoners. so if the pre-character-creation baseline is all zeros because thats the assumed average for all people THAT INCLUDES THE COMMONERS.

its when you get into character class stuff or however hero/villain training is going to work that you get into the “a cut above the rest” stuff and start building above that “average” baseline

the bonus to all this? small, easily managed, numbers that are DIRECTLY used in gameplay

the way humans are centralized like Gods Gift To Fantasyland despite being boring as shit and having no reason besides some painfully realistic imperialist bloodlust to be anywhere near as in-charge as they are claimed to be

the way there are eleventy billion micro rules which make for about as many functional stats (even if the ‘core’ stats are deceptively few in number) which would be better handled by a computer program than a pen&paper game and yet here we all are

the way you need so many dice and then have to remember which ones get used when, OH WAIT THAT ONE GOT UPPED THAT LAST CHARACTER LEVEL, now where the fuck did i put it, and so on and so forth

the way you can get half-breeds with humans but NOTHING ELSE. want to play a half demon? the other parent is human. want to play a demigod-ish character? the other parent is human. want to play a half-orc? the other parent is human. want to play a half-halfing/half-dwarf? TOUGH SHIT. want to play a half-orc/half-elf? TOUGH SHIT. EVERYTHING IS HUMANS ALL THE TIME 8D 8D 8DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

the way character classes are ridged with few variations unless you multiclass, but then you have to pick up shit you don’t want to get to what you do want. like i can get this kind of rigidity in a computer game. but in pen&paper? WHY

the way spells are super specific unchanging things instead of something far more organically variable. like if you are a fire mage you should have like “i cast a fire spell this shape, size, distance from me, area of effect, for this much damage if it hits” and have it on like a point buy system. a SIMPLE point buy system. like you don’t need 500 fire spells to capture every possible combination separately. you can just....wing it.

the way everything is generic whitewashed medieval europe fantasy with very little if any mythic/legendary/fairytale influence from elsewhere, OH UNLESS ITS EVIL THEN ITS ALL OVER THE PLACE

the way the economy is fucked no matter what level you are because you are either starving as both a hero and nobility because a loaf of bread is one whole gold or you’ve become Fantasy Bill Gates and can’t give it away fast enough to keep from drowning in your own wealth

like give me the thing that completes this: kill six billion demons : concept of angels and demons/devils :: _______ : d&d

give me something where you only need like 2 d10s for all your rolls

give me something where you only use simple addition/subtraction and the really easy bits of the multiplication table when you REALLY REALLY HAVE TO

give me something that focuses more on simple representation of events (even if not totally accurate) than some kind of realistic simulation

give me something that allows for easy creation of custom races, classes, spells and other stuff because its all on a point buy system that makes it fair without having to playtest the hell out of it first or nerf it later

[for ease of finding the thing is here]

thanks for the distraction

unfortunately i am really goddamn tired after wrangling the, quite frankly, terrifying mess of wires the last person to mess with my ceiling light left so imma have to just post this as-is for now and come back either much later tonight or sometime tomorrow to look at it

i keep coming back to godtier rpg and their tabletop system as the closest singular example of what im looking for in a replacement for dnd. especially for a system that best suits a particular set of characters i’ve been wanting to play with in-game for a while now

i had assumed that since i came up with them while on one of my many dnd ragefests that they were inspired primarily by dnd and just flavored with other stuff.

i was wrong

since i have apparently suscribed to a very effective method of character design/development the first character is based off the homestuck fansong for Rose, Leviathan, the Girl and some artwork tied to it  . the other two main characters are based off the OTHER biblical beasties Behemoth and Ziz. their quest? not that far off from what Rose was trying to do early on in sburb, ie: break shit to make it better. the plot/setting/worldbuilding that led to this quest? subconsciously based on a much-loved homestuck fic with Dave Lalonde, Knight of Light...who also has some grimdark horrorterror themes thrown in

...so yeah, this fucking thing has been homestuck from the beginning and NO FUCKING WONDER A HOMESTUCK-BASED SYSTEM WOULD WORK BETTER WITH IT

i feel like a goddamn idiot

its not that i can’t do it, its that to fix this i’d have to fix everthing ELSE wrong with this system too and that is literally the reason i wanted to make a quick’n’dirty attempt at cobbling together what i want out of “canon” pieces to see just how far off the mark dnd’s system is from where i’d prefer it to be

and its just...too much fucking effort to do a slapstick temp job. like its as long and drawn out as just FIXING THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM INSTEAD would be